But for me, and maybe for others, it dulls the overall season. Having teams stay in the same city for another leg dilutes a bit of the drama for me. I like it when teams struggle to find a good departure; I don't want it to overtake the episode but having a bit extra in there makes it more interesting. And then you don't have the race taking all the extra steps along the way, like the walk to the Plaza and the relatively short trip into the catacombs in order to fill up space and show off the city.
Anyway, teams leave the pitstop and have to make their way by foot to a relatively nearby plaza. No doubt this route marker was designed to see if any teams would forget about reading the clue and grab a cab. And there was a moment when Team Frisbee might have made that mistake. But in the end, they were only asking the cab for directions. So far Team Frisbee and Tyler and Korey are dominating these first few legs with other teams divided into a couple of other groups which I've given obvious titles to: the Mid-Group, and the Laggers. Membership in each has differed slightly from leg to leg but a number of teams are consistent in each. You know the ones I'm talking about. And I guess almost every single race has this similar type of arrangement; at least until the last few legs.
For awhile there it looked like the Mensa Brothers would make their way out of the Laggers and into the Mids but no such luck. I'll get to them later. You may have noticed that I've actually used actually names for a team. Yep, I'm starting to remember Tyler and Korey. They're a strong team but they are also coming into their own as characters on the race. They're having fun on the race, showing personality without trying too hard (like Team Frisbee and some of the others with their overly demonstrative celebrations and partner support). You can also tell they are great friends by the way they consistently take the piss out of each other without the other one taking offence. It's very similar in the way Gord and I interact. From time to time, we each surprise our wives when we chide each other ("I can't believe you said that to him," I've heard a few times from my wife), but it's all in good fun.
I'm also starting to like Scott and Blair, and Zach and Rachel. The Father/Daughter team is classic TAR trope but this one is a bit different. Scott seems to be more supportive of Blair, not overly controlling as we've seen in other teams of this ilk. Sure, I bet sometimes Blair's antics, especially in how she'll use her femininity to move the team forward, can be difficult for him (as a Dad I can see that on his face), but he's not holding her back. He's letting her be herself, not telling her to tone it down. That might change but so far, he's just been a solid supportive dad. Which could get them far.
Zach and Rachel stood out for me when they did the bus side of the Detour and she totally messed up the counting of the money on the task, forcing them to double back and take another bus. But he didn't berate her for the mistake, didn't harp on her afterwards for it; he allowed to express her disappointment in herself but then moved on. I also like how Zach was pleasantly surprised to be recognized; shows he doesn't have a big ego). Again, that could change but it's a good sign. And also, will help them in the end.
Their interaction is the total opposite of the Dancers who seem to be constantly at odds. Or at least it's Dana who seems to have some kind of chip on her shoulder about taking any sort of direction from Matt. Maybe he's constantly hassling her and that's why she's like that but they are this season Bickering Couple, which is a constant TAR trope, one that I'm actually getting bored of.
Speaking of bored, that did happen partway through the episode for me, and I'm pretty sure it had to do with the fact they stayed in the same city as the previous leg. You could tell that this had an effect on the editing because the episode wasn't even half over and the top teams had checked in. Didn't help that one of the top teams is actually the most personable tea out there. I thought both sides of the Detours were interesting tasks although again, one side was much easier or less time-consuming than the other one. And that task with the exploding targets in the sand; how weird was that? That's the national sport of Colombia? Go figure. Interesting game but all that exploding's got to get on the nerves after awhile.
The Roadblock was a basic needle in the haystack kind of task, find the relatively matching bags in the market. Watching racer after racer after racer running through the maze of streets looking for two more bags got repetitive pretty quick. In the end, Team Frisbee was faster and finished first with Tyler and Korey coming second. Other teams came in but two teams made huge mistakes, putting them at the end of the pack. For awhile, it looked like Zach and Rachel's bus mistake would put them in last place. But the Mensa Brothers blew it again. Darius had trouble reading the clue about where to bring back his three bags and spent too much time looking for the wrong location, allowing Z & R to hit the mat ahead of them. That had to have driven Cameron insane, watching his brother mess up while he couldn't say a thing.
Still, it was just a matter of time for the Mensa Brothers; they made way too many mistakes in the first three legs and you can't do that for too long without getting eliminated. Next week, off to Europe so it's great to get away from Colombia and onto another continent. Unfortunately, sometime the race spends too many legs in Europe.